The NFL's long-running prime-time series, providing football action with colorful commentary. The 1970 brainchild of ABC Sports president Roone Arledge shifted to cable's ESPN in 2006. `MNF' was a programming experiment---few thought football would draw a large audience in prime time---that paid off big for ABC and the league, and turned the verbose How (more…)The NFL's long-running prime-time series, providing football action with colorful commentary. The 1970 brainchild of ABC Sports president Roone Arledge shifted to cable's ESPN in 2006. `MNF' was a programming experiment---few thought football would draw a large audience in prime time---that paid off big for ABC and the league, and turned the verbose Howard Cosell into an unlikely icon. It also originated the concept of three men in the broadcast booth.